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Shuttlepod One
'' |image= |series= |production=40358-116 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Rick Berman and Brannon Braga |director=David Livingston |imdbref=tt0763253 |guests= |previous_production=Sleeping Dogs |next_production=Fusion |episode=ENT S01E16 |airdate= 13 February 2002 |previous_release=Shadows of P'Jem |next_release=Fusion |story_date(s)= 9 November 2151 |previous_story=Shadows of P'Jem |next_story=Fusion }} =Summary= On board Pod 1, Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed are attempting to locate Enterprise in an asteroid field that Captain Archer had intended to map. Just then, Reed spots an impact crater surrounded by debris, and they conclude that the ship has somehow been destroyed. They are now alone, with ten days' worth of air left. Tucker orders Reed to head to Echo Three, a subspace amplifier, using the stars for reference as navigation is down. To pass the time, Reed records messages to his family and friends, but Tucker becomes exasperated as Reed's recordings slowly become more pessimistic. On board Enterprise, it is revealed that the debris that Reed and Tucker saw was from an explosion while a Tesnian ship was trying to dock with the Enterprise. Archer asks about the Tesnians and Ensign Sato says that Doctor Phlox is rotating the 34 survivors in order to give them all six hours of boron a day. Ensign Mayweather reports that their ETA at Tesnia is 20 hours, allowing enough time to return to meet the shuttlepod. Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol use a mini-shuttle to inspect the damage to the ship, and Archer orders work on a new door for Launch Bay 2. Later, T'Pol presents her analysis to Archer - both ships were hit by a theoretical "micro-singularity", but he remains sceptical. The shuttlepod's hull is also breached by a micro-singularity, which they quickly seal. Reed reports that one of the oxygen cylinders was damaged, leaving them with less than two days' worth of air. Tucker tells Reed that they can survive for an extra half-day if they lower the temperature to conserve power for the air recyclers. Later, the radio picks up a signal - it is Sato transmitting new rendezvous coordinates and gives an ETA of two days. Unfortunately, they only have one day's worth of air left and no way to communicate with the ship. They jettison and detonate the engine, hoping to attract Enterprise's attention. It works. Finally, Reed wakes up in Sickbay, relieved to see Tucker's sleeping form there as well. =Errors and Exlanations= IMDB Character error # Malcolm and Trip spend much of their time in the damaged shuttle pod arguing and Malcolm even refuses to sleep. Given their declining oxygen levels, they would have best tried to keep calm and sleep - both states result in less oxygen consumption and could have extended their survival time. The stress of the situation is impairing their ability to think rationally. Factual errors # Trip and Reed turn down the heat to conserve energy yet they leave the artificial gravity running. Generating a gravity field without planetary mass would require a very large amount of energy, many times that required for heat. Depends on how much power is needed for the gravity field. # The Duo's last ditch attempt to attract Enterprise's attention and effect a rescue is to eject and detonate there impulse engine. After doing so the ship is shown to be slowly drifting through space. Malcolm asks, "how does it feel to be slower than a snail?" ignoring the fact that the inertia would carry them on at the same speed and heading indefinitely. They may have reduced speed before ejecting the engine, in order to maximise the amount of fuel, and thus the force of the explosion (This would also ensure they stayed relatively close to the explosion). Nit Central # SMT on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 7:10 pm: Did it ever occur to Malcolm to write his log entries and tearful farewells? Not only would it soothe Trip's nerves, but it would save oxygen that he's using to talk. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: Some people are better at speaking than writing, and vice versa. As for oxygen, he felt at that point that he was going to die, and probably didn’t think it mattered one way or the other how much sooner death came.Dragon on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 9:39 pm: About Malcolm writing his log entries instead of recording them: While this wouldn't be the primary reason for doing them that way, recorded logs possibly could have been put to practical use. If Trip and Malcolm had been rescued or found by a new alien species, the aliens--assuming they had the ability and the means--could have used the recordings to figure out the English language. Then they could have communicated with Trip and Malcolm if those two were still alive, or with Enterprise if they found it later. # I'm not entirely convinced that a dab of mashed potatoes would really prevent a shuttle's worth of air from blowing itself out a pinhole. Then again, the old Apollo lunar modules had walls that were essentially aluminum foil, so maybe it would be enough. Jason on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 7:33 pm: I think that the mashed potatoes were only a temporary solution so they could get the sealant.LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: The potatoes were only a temporary thing until they could get to the sealant, which Reed is brushing onto the breach area in the opening shot of Act 3. # Malcolm talks about how their bodies would be preserved "with no air in the pod". But there would be air, just not breathable, oxygenated air. Not is their emergency repair failed – if that happened, the air would flow out! # By figures given in Act 4 (Enterprise travelling a quarter light-year in two days at Warp 3), we can determine that Warp 3 is about 45 times light-speed. How long until they violate that continuity? :-) LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: Trip said, "nearly a quarter of a light year," and Reed didn’t know what speed Enterprise was travelling at. He said, "They’re probably travelling at what? Warp 2? Warp 3?" ''Seniram 16:28, September 20, 2018 (UTC)''What continuity? According to the Cubed warp factor, which is presumably what is used here, Warp 3 equals 27 times the speed of light, not 45. # Maagic on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 7:11 pm: When I see shows that deal with someone running out of air, they always go by how much air is left in the tank or storage unit... but they always neglect to mention how much is left in the compartment or room... given the size of the shuttlepod I bet Malcolm and Tucker would have had another few hours of air left. True, but the air in the room is partly composed of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen and other gases, which reduce tha amount of available Oxygen! # The Undesirable Element on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 7:20 pm: Why don't they have spacesuits on board? One would think that they would be standard equipment. Though I can see why the creators wouldn't want to have Reed and Tucker in those bulky things for the entire episode. These are probably only issued for certain missions. # Steve Oostrom on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 9:45 pm: Okay, that was fun, but what about that opening scene with the wreckage of the Enterprise? Why was that not explained? Were they hallucinating? Were those micro-singularities causing time-travel events that were not clearly explained? I was half-expecting that Reed and Tucker would have somehow warned the ship about some kind of time travel anomaly. The lack of an explanation was bothersome. TomM on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 10:01 pm: The Enterprise's launch bay door was lost in the same accident that destroyed the alien ship, and it was its Enterprise markings that led Reed and Tucker to conclude that all of the wreckage was the Enterprise.LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: The Enterprise’s starboard Launch Bay door was ripped off, as seen in Act 1, when Archer and T’Pol inspect the damage. The rest of the wreckage was the Tesnian ship. # Exactly why was a bottle of bourbon on the shuttle? Did Archer hide it there for some reason? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: Looks like cheese isn’t the only thing Archer has to keep away from Porthos… # That microwave they stuck the rations in to heat them up clearly was advanced technology. It took just seconds to heat up the rations. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: Well, this is 150 years from now. Why wouldn’t a microwave/food processing machine be able to do that?inblackestnight on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 2:37 pm: I assumed it would be. This thing immediately reminded me of the machine in Back to the Future part 2 in how pizza was cooked. # Once more, the producers of "Star Trek" do not have the word "inertia" in their vocabulary. The shuttlepod was at impulse. The engines are only needed to accelerate or decelerate the shuttle. Once the impulse engines were jettisoned, the shuttle should not have slowed down, but should have continued at its original speed. The explosion and shockwave might have disrupted the course, but the shuttle should not slow down! ' It could be designed to come to a complete stop after engine release.' # TomM on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 10:41 pm: I seem to recall that mini black holes (= micro-singularities) were still considered only theoretical in Picard's time, but I suppose it could just be my faulty memory. If I do remember correctly, however, then T'Pol's discovering the proof two centuries earlier would constitute a changed premise nit. The most likely episode to vindicate or disprove my memory would be Timescape (TNG) If someone who has a tape could check..… LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: That episode mentioned that Romulan ships use an artificial quantum singularity as a power source, and Face of the Enemy (TNG) established it first anyway, Tom. There was no mention of microsingularities, but Eye of the Needle (VOY) did have an extremely small wormhole. # Spockania on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 11:09 pm: How come the shuttle only has ten days of air (before the air tank get whacked). We can build a nuclear submarine that can stay underwater for a year, or at least several months, but in the future this ability seems to be lost. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: A shuttlepod is much smaller than a sub, but yeah, I think nine days is a bit low. They might not have replicators, but they should have superior scrubbers and air recirculators. # LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 - 11:31 pm: The wrecked Launch Bay door seen on the asteroid by Trip and Reed in the teaser has a number "1" on it. It’s even more visible in the second to last shot of Act 1. But Archer tells T’Pol in the inspection pod in Act 1 to tell Lieutenant Hess to get started on a new door for Launch Bay 2. inblackestnight on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 2:37 pm: Actually it said "01" on it (pick, pick, pick). I don't think it was a launch bay door because if they are numbered it wouldn't have zero on it. Cyber (Cybermortis) on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 6:33 am: You'd use '01' rather than just '1' so you had a reference point to work out which way the ship was pointing. This may seem odd, but we have seen ships through out Startrek go into Nebular where sensors were unreliable and visibility was limited. A large '01' would give something a pilot could use to get into the right position for docking if flying by eyes alone - and probably something that they could use to double check that the automatic landing systems were functioning correctly during normal landings. inblackestnight on Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 12:50 pm: It's been a while since I've seen any Enterprise but what I meant was I don't recall seeing a zero on the doors at all. I understand why they would number them that way, I just don't know if they did. # When Reed asks Trip if he has a sextant handy in Act 1, Trip says he left it with his slide rule. What does Trip need a slide rule for? Don’t they use the Metric system in 2151? Is there some area in which they still use the Imperial System? Rene on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 6:27 am: Come on. He was joking. TJFleming on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 7:39 am: Moreover, the metric system did not make slide rules obsolete. It works in any measurement system as long as the number system is base 10. That the "C" scale is in inches is incidental, not essential, to the function of the tool, which is simply to graphically depict logarithms, trig functions, etc.Trike on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:14 am: It's ridiculous that by glancing at the stars around them Malcolm could have plotted a course with any kind of accuracy. From Earth, a course that is one degree off makes a difference as to whether a vessel makes it to the moon or misses it completely.TomM on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 10:31 am: That is Malcolm's point exactly, when he asks for a sextant. Trip believes that any action is better than giving up. ScottN on Friday, February 15, 2002 - 10:02 am: When Reed asks Trip if he has a sextant handy in Act 1, Trip says he left it with his slide rule. What does Trip need a slide rule for? Don?t they use the Metric system in 2151? Is there some area in which they still use the Imperial System? margie on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 11:58 am: Trip was telling Reed to look at the stars to figure out a way home, saying that Reed's family was in the Navy, so he should know how. Reed replied with the crack about the sextant, which was used to steer by the stars many years ago (is it still used?) Trip's response about the slide rule was because he finally realized he was asking something dumb. bela okmyx on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 7:03 am: Reed's crack about the sextant is particularly bitter, because as I understand it, a sextant is used to determine one's latitude and longitude based on the elevation of the sun or stars above the horizon, therefore it would be totally useless in space. # Trike on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:14 am: As I watched Malcolm’s dream sequence, I thought it was unrealistic. Not because of how T’Pol was shown out-of-character, but because dreams are rarely that coherent.LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 12:39 am: Well, it varies. Some that I’ve had when in a really deep sleep (after going without sleep or food for too long) have been really coherent. # Ray on Thursday, February 14, 2002 - 8:04 am: OK, I don't usually scream at the TV. But, WHY did Archer have to ask T'Pol who was in charge of engineering with Trip away? It had been days at that point. Shouldn't he know who's in charge? Dustin Westfall on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 1:38 pm: Not only that, why would he have to ask at all? This is a ship of ~80 people. Are you telling me that the Captain of that small of a ship can't keep track of his command staff's subordinates?! Rarely, if ever, did Kirk, Picard, Sisko or Janeway have trouble remembering anyone crewman's name (and when they did, it was either a new transfer, like Neela Daren, a recluse like the guy in Good Shepherd, or a junior junior crewman), and their crew complements were huge compared to this Enterprise. # E. Sackman on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 4:47 pm: I am surprised no one has picked up on this nit yet, as it is probably the biggest one in this episode. How in the heck did Trip ever become executive officer of the Enterprise, a position which is second only to that of the captain aboard a ship. He certainly showed a lack of leadership and command ability this episode. As senior officer aboard the shuttle, he failed to take command and start issuing orders, which would have given them the best chance of survival. LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 12:55 am: He did order Reed to determine their position, until Reed informed it was impossible to do so. What other orders do you feel he should've given him? Richie Vest on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 6:55 pm: Trip is not the executive officer he is the chief engineer. Swatman47 on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 3:28 pm: E.Sackman's point about Trip being the XO is valid, as he would be the XO if it were not for T'Pol. ' # ''KAM on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 7:38 am: Malcolm & Trip are trying to figure ways to get Enterprise to know that something is wrong & Trip figures they must be a blip on the sensors. Why not start flying around in a circle? If the Shuttlepod is heading toward the rendezvous without sending a message Enterprise might assume that the radio is down, but if the shuttlepod is going around in circles Enterprise might assume there has been some serious damage. '''They may not have enough fuel for that. # constanze on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 - 6:00 am: Okay, big problem I have with the guys in the shuttlecraft: How much WATER do they have on board? They have air originally for 10 days. Next important thing would be water, which would be several liters, esp. if its for emergency, and therefore a big amount. Where is it stored, and how many days are there? Water weighs a lot and takes a lot of space, but is much more important than meatloaf - they could go without food for 10 days no problem. Or is water produced somehow? If so, why not oxygen? Electron on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 - 9:22 pm: I think the water is being recycled from you-know-what-I-mean and air humidity. This opens of course the all-important question: Where's the toilet in a shuttlepod? Under a seat? And what about privacy there? And... constanze on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 2:42 am: Electron, I don't know if that would be enough. I know they are trying to solve the problem for the first manned mars mission, as it would take roughly 2 years without any stop for refuelling, but they need huge tanks to clean the you-know-what. Even if technology is advanced in time of the enterprise, it would still use up a lot of space, or use a lot of energy. Thande on Wednesday, December 03, 2003 - 7:34 am: If they did have excess water, they could have electrolysed it with some of the spare power to get more oxygen. # inblackestnight on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 2:37 pm: Archer slows the Enterprise to impluse so he can inspect the microsingularity damage. Aren't there cameras and other sensors to do this, and more pressing matters? Cyber (Cybermortis) on Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 6:33 am: It is quite likely that there are such systems. However given the damage to the ship they could have been damaged themselves. It may also be standard procedure to physically check any external damage to the ship as soon as possible. Archer doing this himself can be explained simply because, given that it was his father who designed the NX Class and Archers own experience working on the building of Enterprise. Archer knows more about the ship and her design than anyone else left aboard at this time. Slowing to impulse can also be explained. It is logical to assume that such major damage to the ship would have messed up structural integrity and the hull plating. In such a situation you wouldn't want to go jetting around at warp longer than you had to, until you were sure that warp speed wasn't going to do more damage to the ship or something vital wasn't about to stop working. Category:EpisodesCategory:Enterprise